New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is turning India into a "demon land" and the Congressmen praising him should be thrown out of the party, veteran Congress leader and former Union minister KK Tiwari said on Sunday. His remarks came after Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and Abhishek Singhvi said "demonising" Modi was "wrong" and would not help the Congress.
In an interview to PTI, Tiwari hit out at the Congress leaders praising Modi and speaking in his favour and urged party chief Sonia Gandhi to show them the door. He also called on Congressmen to go all-out in attacking Modi through an agitation involving people, as he was promoting "polarized majoritarianism" and "fascism" in India. "Nobody is born either a demon or an angel. It all depends on his actions. Today, the whole of India is being turned into demon land," said Tiwari.
On Wednesday, former Union minister Ramesh said Modi's governance model was "not a complete negative story" and "demonising" him all the time was not going to help Congress. His stand was
supported by Singhvi and Tharoor who too said the prime minister should be praised for doing the right things.
Training his guns on the Congressmen who praised Modi, the veteran party leader said "the Congress is being hijacked by a handful of oligarchs, many of who have never contested elections and Rajya Sabha has become their safe sanctuary". "I urge Congress president Sonia Gandhi to immediately suspend Congressmen who are making such statements in favour of Modi and show them the door," he said.
While Tiwari was critical of Ramesh and termed him a "careerist and climber" who has never won an election, he said Tharoor is an intelligent and talented man. "But his problem is he wants to be a groom at every wedding and a corpse at every funeral. I hope he curbs his magnanimity," he said quoting poet PB Shelley.
He also spared Singhvi, saying he may not have thought before he spoke out. He said it was for the people of India to decide on the behaviour of Prime Minister Modi on who is a demon and who is an angel.
He alleged that those who do not subscribe to RSS/BJP ideology are called anti-nationals and traitors and the probe agencies like Enforcement Directorate, CBI and Income Tax Department have been unleashed against all political adversaries, many of who are put behind bars. "Is this democracy, is this not demon land?"
Suggesting that the Congress should launch a vociferous, more organised attack on Modi, he said the party should hold protests with the involvement of people in the country. "I also urge Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to adopt a temporary version of 'Kamaraj plan' and send all such people supposed to be great Congressmen to their states to revive the party.
"The party must be given a clarion call to fight the threat to the very 'Idea of India' by the RSS/BJP combine under the leadership of Narendra Modi, he said. Tiwari said it was the responsibility of the Congress party to fight this battle to save the country from "polarised majoritarianism" which is dividing India across the board.
The former union minister, who was part of Rajiv Gandhi's Cabinet, said nobody in the country should be surprised if in a couple of months, not years, "Modi's 'New India' will have a new
Constitution drafted in Nagpur and will have one nation, one election and one leader. He is emulating Xi Jinping of China."
He said the Kashmir decision is a symptom of the coming crisis that India is threatened with. The former minister said the Congress party has been a laggard in not protecting Jawaharlal Nehru, who was being constantly attacked by the present leadership of BJP.
"Nehru is being vilified, subjected to scurrilous, blasphemous attacks and Congress has not stood to defend him. Nehru stood for Modern India, one which is diverse, secular, eclectic and is
based on the values of the Constitution," he said. The veteran Congressman rued that while the country's economy was in bad shape, the BJP under Modi was polarizing people. "Polarised majoritarianism is a clear step towards fascism, he predicted.
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